The crew held court with Loghan Tyrn once more, and now, armed with his information, they have a path, though cloudy and uncertain, to find their most fearsome foe yet. They have identified a group of people who have been searching for the Lord of the Storms: the King’s Dark Lanterns. The Dark Lanterns are backed by the financial and organizational might of one of the single most powerful nexuses of mortal power in Khorvaire: the King of Breland. If anybody has been able to find out anything about the being that calls itself Anax Cheimon, it would be them.
Armed with Tyrn’s knowledge of the members of XLVII Legion—and the knowledge that one of the legionaries is their target—the party’s task is to narrow down the list until they know who to confront. Their plan is to chase down the Dark Lanterns, one by one, and find out what they know. Their first stop: Regalport, where Testra ir’Gawaine might be found conducting business from the Brelish embassy.
They made port in a disaster zone in Regalport. Not a a full day had passed since a hurricane had made landfall and devastated Seaside, the wealthiest district of the city… as well as the Brelish embassy. The party made a detour to Seadragon’s Roost, where they found Prince Rygar perched and brooding. He, too, had been keeping his ears to the ground concerning the Lord of Storms, and what little he had learned led him to believe with deadly certitude that Prince Kolberkon’s sponsorship had enabled the deadly hurricane that had leveled a quarter of Regalport. Rygar had already ordered the Seadragon Fleet to the island of Questor to raid and plunder the hinterlands of Port Verge and to prepare for a long siege of the port itself. He offered the Crown a place at the vanguard—a glorious but dangerous posting—and the partypolitely demurred and excused themselves to return to their business.
Now, they stand over the ruins of the Brelish embassy, which has been apparently under watch by Boromar errand boys. Seabern unearthed a likely cause: a reinforced hatch to the embassy’s basement, intact: the Brelish staff might still be hiding down here.
The party descended. The first basement was a simple row of cells built into the earth. But the hatch below that led to an ancient, dust-choked chamber… watched over by a towering steel solider. The party dispatched of the shield guardian, taking from it a bronze cylinder of sorts.
Slowly they have descended through what seems to be a temple, currently infested with cave fishers and strewn with danger. The bronze cylinder was found to fit within a slot in a strange altar, disabling an apparent force-field. The party now descends closer to that force field… but first, they must contend with the furious air elemental that swirls in this chamber.
Finally, they vanquished the air elemental and cleared the pool of hungry sharks that waited below it, and they lifted open the final door at the bottom of the temple, behind which awaited many answers.
Testra ir’Gawaine and a small retinue of Brelish huddled in the room, including the unnervingly tall wizard interrogator the party had fended off at the prison of Ostarlan. They had apparently retreated into this strange and ancient temple—which had accidentally served as the foundation to the Brelish embassy when it was built some decades ago—to avoid being picked off by the opportunistic Brelish mafia, the Boromar clan, in the chaotic aftermath of the hurricane landfall.
And now they were cornered by the Cyran privateers. The two parties negotiated through their simmering distrust until they reached an agreement: the Cyrans would deliver the Brelish safely to Seadragon’s Roost, and in return Testra would furnish the information she had gathered on Anax Cheimon, the Lord of Storms.
The deed was done, and the party now possesses a letter wherein the Lord of Storms accidentally gave away an important clue: they were likely at least 40 years old, having been alive and possibly present at the famous Battle of the Broken Ribs 35 years ago.
Their business in Regalport concluded, the Crown set sail for Port Verge, and cooperative seas and calm winds bore them there in short order.
There, they found the port closed and the Direshark’s naval might drawn up close. Apparently, Prince Kolberkon had responded to Prince Rygar ir’Wynarn’s assault on the entirety of his domain by ordering his military forces to protect exactly one tiny slice of it: his seat of power, Port Verge.
The party put down anchor and took a longboat to shore, where they found a welcoming party, headed by Mika, waiting. They learned that Port Verge is currently open to precisely two kinds of business: trade in food and supplies, and business with the Prince himself. They convinced Mika that they had come to barter potatoes… and though she had ascertained that they had an ulterior motive, she arranged for them to make port.
Now, as they make berth in the harbor on the northern end of the city, the crew contemplates two questions: how will they locate Gal Feinn, and just how cooperative she’ll be when they come calling?
They immediately struck out for the Squall. There, they would quickly find that Gal Feinn had just left the premises via the back door, in a hurry. They gave chase. Midge weaved together some magical confusion to disperse a crowd of tough guys who thought they wanted a piece of Krijkor, and Evie and Fox made use of a Dimension Door to dramatically shorten the distance to the retreating hooded spy.
A quick blow to the back of the head ended the chase… but also Gal Feinn’s life. She had been wearing the Black Band of Loyalty, an infamous ring that kills its bearer before they can be captured. But she also carried the Biblio Notus she had received from the party several weeks ago, where, in the margins, she had left some clues as to the identity of Anax Cheimon.
The party beat a hasty retreat back to the Crown and set sail for Port Krez and their final target: Zia, the spy disguised as a courtesan in the dingiest port in Lhazaar.
Zia proved elusive. First, Fox professed her love in the rough and rowdy streets, and a band of robbers tried and failed to profit off the situation. The party then produced three Foxes: Oracle disguised as Fox, Midge disguised as Fox, and Fox as herself, and the three of them contrived to look lonely on the streets of Port Krez. This vulpine triumvirate succeeded where the lone fox had failed, and Zia appeared, luring Midge back to a loft well-secluded from the damp and dirty main street of North Port Row. Seabern followed.
After some inconclusive banter in which Midge attempted to corner Zia with her identity and Zia played coy, the situation escalated. Midge began casting a spell to put Zia to sleep, Zia reached for a dagger hidden beneath the covers of her bed, and Seabern reached for his sword…